Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker redeemed Kylo Ren, and though you might credit Rey with helping to bring back Ben Solo, it's Chewbacca who arguably deserves praise for that. Rae Carlson's novelization for the movie reveals that the first spark of redemption for the Supreme Leader of the First Order came when he was reunited with Chewbacca.

Shortly after the Knights of Ren captured Chewie on Pasana, Kylo probed the Wookie's mind in an effort to discover where Rey and the rest of the Resistance were holed up.

"He saw flashes of the Wookiee laughing with a much younger Han Solo than he himself remembers. Felt Chewbacca's joy when his best friend married the woman he'd come to love like a sister. Saw the Wookiee cuddling a human toddler, teaching an older boy to fly a speeder, target practice with a young man, their blasters set on stun against a haphazard dummy made of rocks."

The writer goes on to explain that as Kylo continues to probe Chewbacca's mind, he learns that the Wookie's quarters are filled with pictures and memories of the young Ben Solo rather than his fellow Wookies. Realising that his "uncle" doesn't hate him for what he did to Han Solo in The Force Awakens, the villain finally feels hope again and understands what it would mean to return home.

This would have been a touching and wonderful moment to see in The Rise of Skywalker, but it's another scene that either wasn't filmed or didn't make the final cut for unknown reasons.

The sequel trilogy failed to ever really explore how Chewie felt about his "nephew," and the beloved Rebel hero served as little more than a background character across the three films. Perhaps a future comic book or Director's Cut of J.J. Abrams final Star Wars movie will reveal this meeting in its entirety?

The Resistance has been reborn. But although Rey and her fellow heroes are back in the fight, the war against the First Order, now led by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, is far from over. Just as the spark of rebellion is rekindling, a mysterious signal broadcasts throughout the galaxy, with a chilling message: Emperor Palpatine, long thought defeated and destroyed, is back from the dead. Has the ancient Lord of the Sith truly returned? Kylo Ren cuts a swath of destruction across the stars, determined to discover any challenge to his control over the First Order and his destiny to rule over the galaxy - and crush it completely. Meanwhile, to discover the truth, Rey, Finn, Poe, and the Resistance must embark on the most perilous adventure they have ever faced. Featuring all-new scenes adapted from never-before-seen material, deleted scenes, and input from the filmmakers, the story that began in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and continued in Star Wars: The Last Jedi reaches an astounding conclusion.